USA/LTU – USA gain momentum with 102:66 win over Lithuania

HAMBURG (FIBA U17 World Championship) – Both the U.S. (82:70 vs. Argentina) and Lithuania (85:72 vs. China) already had one win under their belts going into day two of the FIBA U17 World Championship. The Americans took full advantage of their athleticism and mature play, forcing many turnovers on defense, leading to a barrage of dunks on the other end of the court.

Lithuania had a hard time finding a solution to crack up a well-organized full court press. The only true contributor was guard Rokas Narkevicius (14 points) who looked sharp from the three-point line early. Without him the Europeans would have been down further still at half-time, with scores at 31:56

It took until the 7th minute of the last period of game eight the 100 point mark to be passed for the first time, as Virgil Parker scored on an up-and-under move. Over the course of the entire second half Parker and his team mates tried to set up alley-oops or fastbreak dunks. The crowd at the Sporthalle Hamburg definetly loved it, as Lithuania resiliently did its best showing some nice ball-movement in spite of defeat.

Quotes

Don Showalter, United States head coach: "Our players were well-prepared and came into the game focused. Our team is getting better with every game they play. We really have a „it's not me, it's we on our team“ kind of mentality."

Egidijus Zenevicius, Lithuania assistant coach: "Our defense was really bad throughout the whole game. We will face the USA once again in the semi-finals of this tournament."

FIBA / JB